The present invention relates to an enzyme-active fibrous material and a method for the preparation thereof or, in particular, the invention relates to a novel enzyme-active fibrous material comprising a partially aminoacetalized polyvinyl alcohol as a support and an enzyme bonded to the support and the method for the preparation thereof.
In several of the industrial manufacturing processes of various chemical substances by utilizing enzyme reactions, it is a recommendable way that the enzyme is used as a so-called "immobilized enzyme" composed of a suitable support material and the enzyme bonded to the support material in order to avoid the difficulties in handling of the water-soluble enzymes and separation of the enzyme and the reaction product after completion of the enzyme reaction as in the enzymatic preparation of various organic acids and saccharoses with advantages in the product qualities as well as in cost and energy saving. There are known several methods for the preparation of such "immobilized enzymes" including entrapping method, support method and crosslinking method, of which the support method is further classified into covalent bonding method, ionic bonding method and physical adsorption method. The immobilized enzymes prepared according to these methods are obtained usually in the form of a hydrated gel, films or granules, which are used as packed in a suitable reaction vessel such as a column and the reactant solution is passed through the bed of the immobilized enzyme in the column.
There have been proposed several immobilized enzymes prepared with certain fibrous supports such as a fibrous protein or hollow synthetic fibers of polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylonitrile, polysulfone and the like (see, for example, American Chemical Society, Symposium Series, volume 47, pages 100-131, 1977, and citations). The use of such a fibrous immobilized enzyme in enzyme reactions is advantageous in the easiness of packing and refilling of a reaction column therewith as well as in the easiness of the separation of the reactant solutions from the enzyme since the fibrous immobilized enzymes can be used in the form of a fabric such as woven cloths or non-woven fabrics. These fibrous immobilized enzymes in the prior art are, however, not satisfactory in the activity and durability of the activity as well as in the complicated procedure for the preparation thereof.